American Reacts to Laborers in Victorian England, 1901

[@marieerskine9629]

A lot of those children were workers too, That is why they were like miniature adults .

[@SebastianForal]

Not in 1901. Back then kids would start working at around 14.

[@sputukgmail]

@@SebastianForal…officially. Many kids found ways to “be 14” long before they were 14…

[@sarahjf69]

​@SebastianForal it was 12. And many were undernourished so were small for their age

[@pabmusic1]

Yes, but even so the word 'teenager' didn't enter the language till the 1950s!'​@@SebastianForal

[@XennialTV]

@@SebastianForal What do you think the half term holidays and summer holiday were for back then? it wasn't for kids to put their feet up, it was for the kids to go to work.

[@josefschiltz2192]

My grandmother was a scullery maid in a big house in Hampstead, London, in this year. The wage was under ten pounds a year. Thirty years later, she was a widow, having had five children - one having died in infancy in 1915 from meningitis - and she had her own shop and post office in a country village in Suffolk. She was born in 1881 and lived until 1963. Not too bad going, Gran.

[@leehallam9365]

The children who stood like men were workers. My grandfather started work in a cotton mill in 1905, aged 12. He worked in the same mill till he was 65, apart from 4 years for WW1. The people with dirty faces were miners on their way home. I think you missed the first ever film of a rude gesture, the steel worker queueing for his wages is not happy to be filmed. I think that was a real fight, fisticuffs was culturally much more acceptable then. People aren't at all surprised by it.

[@hiramabiff2017]

What I find absolutely ridiculous about how our families had to live in such poverty and run down housing conditions in recent history , as well as many of us growing up piss poor along Hoxton market in the 70's, is why no one told us about our White Privilege.

[@neild2148]

Totally agree... tell the average working family of this time who scraped a living working from day to day and living in squalor, often living in homes shared by multiple families, that the have white privilege. The working man in UK did not get voting rights until after the first world war. If you did not own a property you did not get a vote. The privileged were the gentry and industry owners not the working classes.

[@john0597]

Hi there just reading your reaction to the video and I just want to agree with you I know where Hoxton Market is because I used to live in that Wall Street for a little while I live on the other side of Hackney near home in the hospital so but I don't think whites white it should come to anyone a surprise of how the Victorians used to live these countries always been run by the rich people those people who happen to be born into wealth don't really give a crap about us working class I never will look at the King and the royal family got more money than you can imagine

[@john0597]

This is what I'm always going on about yeah and what I'm pissed off about as well notice respect to anyone who has got a who's of basically anyone who's black who goes on about or how you know the white ok and because they don't get stopped by the police and all these people who go on about slavery and how all Britain benefited you obviously you people obviously know nothing because it was the minority Who benefited the majority of people in this country were living in hand to mouth and worrying absolute squalor and I really wish this would be talked to the black community to let them understand that not everyone was benefiting from the slavery far from it and I think history need to be taught properly not just the suits on people not just cherry picking certain bits to suit the black agenda at the end of the day the majority of people as I said in this country were living below the poverty line just surviving they weren't having great big meals lavish parties I didn't have carriages to take him everywhere or servants I didn't have none of that so anyone reading this you need to know the facts about what really happened in those days instead of thinking what you know happened

[@freddiebozwell7049]

Spot on!

[@sputukgmail]

And yet, you still had white privilege. At that time, a black family in the exact same circumstances would also have had to contend with the casual racism on the streets, the risk of getting beaten by the NF, getting paid less for the same work, harder to get work in the first place, harassment by the police just for the colour of their skin etc. “White privilege” isnt saying you had it good, its saying you have it relatively slightly easier due to the colour of your skin all other things being equal. Amazing how many people don’t understand it.

[@paulbromley6687]

Joel you cover some wide and interesting topics, another great reaction thanks.

[@jiggermast]

All Ghosts. I wonder how many of the smiling children made it back from the hell of the great war, a mere 14-15 years later?

[@billythedog-309]

13 - 14 years later.

[@Mad3838]

@@billythedog-309 12-16 years ago

[@billythedog-309]

@@Mad3838 So, 2008 - 2012?

[@Mad3838]

@ that’s the one

[@OneTrueScotsman]

About 1 in 7 men around their age, lost their lives in WWI.

[@leehallam9365]

These films were made to be shown locally so that the people in them would pay to see them, the aim was to capture as many people as possible. They did a lot at factory gates as people were finishing work, there was an element of direction, the young black man in the first sketch is believed to have been a member of the film making team, you can see that he and his friend are much cleaner than the others around them. Mitchell and Kenyon who made the films were pioneers, these real life films were much more popular than dramas and comedies, but they did do those to. They made the very first Western, in a park in Blackburn, it was exported to the US where it was very popular.

[@Linclad65]

Funny thing is; one of those kids could have been my grandfather, who was born in 1879 in London and would have been 12 then. He died in 1973 aged 94, still as bright as a button. When he was born there were no cars, no telephones, no electric lighting, no radio or TV, no planes of course . . . and so it goes. Four years before he died, he and I sat in front of our colour TV, watching men walking on the moon. How amazing is that?

[@FrancesThompson-e3m]

This is believed to be the first recorded incident of someone putting two fingers up to the camera ( saying ‘F’ OFF) . This film was taken at the Parkgate Iron and Steel Company in Parkgate Rotherham South Yorkshire North England. The Company no longer exists but Parkgate does, Rotherham is my home town.

[@paulbromley6687]

near to the shopping retail park

[@cf3619]

Times were different back then. They were tough emotionally & physically. No deodorant. No supermarket. No therapists. You worked or died in the street. People today are very lucky.

[@Whiteshirtloosetie]

I am in awe that we live live in a time where we can now see these wonderful people of our past as never before. I love that that rich or not they had standards to look smart. Smiling faces of the young before a War 13 or so years later on a level never seen before. Technology of film to bring these people back so we can smile with them with a tear totally blows my mind. Yes they do mess around fighting to the camera. Use to chat my Gran who was born a bit later in 1904, and great grand parents. You don't need money to be rich in life.

[@paulbooth6350]

Hi, as already suggested the men/boys with the blackened faces were probably coal miners or steel workers or similar . Children started working much younger than today, maybe 12. What struck me was how well dressed the boys were- all wearing waistcoats. The scenes with women in shawls were probably Lancashire mill workers. Some were wearing clogs too. A fascinating film.

[@kevpendle2459]

At 7.19,notice two boys with there thumbs in there waistcoat pockets...they saw there dad's/granddad's doing it. Hi Joel

[@robertgraves8843]

The kind of restoration of old footage these days, not to mention animated photos, is just astounding. I can't get enough of it. It reduces the difference between us and the people of the past.

[@paulybarr]

Those blackened faces in the first few minutes suggest they could be coal miners. As for their reactions to the camera- just imagine what a curiosity a film camera would have been to these people. You can tell that most of them would have never seen anything like it before.

[@hiramabiff2017]

You think people living in the East End with black dirty faces suggest they are coal miners is as amusing as your lack of understanding about what real poverty is.

[@hiramabiff2017]

You mean dirty faces on East End kids and people coming out of factories implies Coal Mining 🤭🤣😂

[@ChrisShelley-v2g]

​@tick999In 1966 we went to Butlins and Charlie Williams was sat at our table for breakfast each morning, I never thought anything about it because my dad was a miner and seeing a black face was an every day occurrence, I was 3 at the time so hardly surprising that I didn't notice anything different about him, he was a lovely person from what little I remember of him.

[@magnolia7277]

I love watching this, it never ceases to amaze me.

[@xemnas9098]

I love these video clips, it's as if looking through a window in time, you see them they see you they even wave as if to say hello to us of the future.

[@rogers2039]

Did you notice that every single boy and man was wearing a hat!

[@philipm06]

If you want to get ahead, get a hat.

[@iangt1171]

That was what leapt out at me, everyone was wearing a a flat cap, with the occassional Homburg now and again!

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

My mother was born in 1899. She told me stories of school friends of hers who lived in the local workhouse, because their family had absolutely no money. Mother was the youngest of four. Her oldest sister left home at 14, to work at a manor house over 150 miles away. They didn't meet again for over 20 yrs. Yet my mum's family were regarded as "comfortable" as gramps was head coachman at a large estate and had over a twenty stable lads, farriers, under coachmen, yardsmen, grooms, and sometimes footmen and harness makers working under him.

[@paulguise698]

Hiya Joel,there's nobody in United Kingdom still alive born in 19th Century,I think this footage was from Halifax,West Yorkshire, cotton mills were plenty them days, did you notice the children weren't going to school, they had to go to work, funny ain't it, Uncle Albert (off Only Fools and Horses)was born in 1920 died in 1999, this is Choppy

[@freddiebozwell7049]

Have you got the year wrong?

[@Mr4dspecs]

The sound track, while obviously not from the original film (no talkies until the late 20s), gives an additional impression of reality, especially with the colourisation.

[@frglee]

You might enjoy reading 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressel. Published in 1914 and set in Edwardian England, it details the lives and travails of a group of men working as painters and decorators in a Sussex seaside town. To quote Wiki: "An explicitly political work, the novel is widely regarded as a classic of working-class literature. As of 2003, it had sold over one million copies. George Orwell described it as 'a book that everyone should read' ".

[@lynette.]

Brilliant book great suggestion.

[@sarahjf69]

@frglee yes ..... its a brilliant book. I lent it to an American friend of mine who couldn't put it down.

[@Kari_B61ex]

The chances are those little children were also workers - many worked in factories. They started working at age 4 or 5.

[@careytitan9097]

Some children as young as 3, worked in the cotton mills with their mothers, small enough to retrieve the bobbins that fell under the machinery of the automated looms, some were killed too because the business owners refused to shut down the looms to stop production.

[@aquillaism]

yes the poor children getting trapped and killed clearing cotton from under machines , cleaning chimneys , also working in mines its horrible think about now , unfortunately they had no choice but to try and help their parents raise money just to live

[@careytitan9097]

@@aquillaism Yes, at the height of the British empire too, which proves there was no privilege or riches for the mass majority of Britain, who were all poor.

[@CobraChicken1302]

I massively respect anyone who did or does go down " the pit" to earn a living, but doing it as a kid is unimaginable to me. One of my great grandfathers biggest prides in life was that none of his 13 children had to go down "the pit" to help the family. He'd lost his brother in 1894 down there , something i only found out when he was already in his 90s and quickly losing his mind, memory and marbles. But it must have meant lot coz he kept mentioning it over and over to everyone. And it worked. Untill they closed in 1989, the only 2 family members who did work for the mining company worked above ground jobs.

[@kronos2611]

the guy giving the fingers to the camera at 8:39 is probably the most relatable British thing :)

[@johnfisher9816]

Hi Joel, I almost delayed watching Derry Girls on Patreon this morning to watch this video first. My paternal grandmother was born in Bristol in 1888 and my paternal grandfather in Battersea, London in 1890. So, they were just kids in 1901. Technically, 1901 was the beginning of the Edwardian period, as the Victorian period ended 22 Jan 1901, with the death of Queen Victoria and the succession of King Edward VII. Putting that point aside, everyone in this film is dressed in late Victorian working-class clothing. By 1901, my grandmother was an orphan, living with an aunt, and working as a seamstress at 13. This is why the boys in the film are acting like men, because they already were. The digital colourisation of this film is amazing!! What a window into the past!! The camera would have been a large, hand-cranked, wooden device, mounted on a heavy tripod. So yes, everyone would have been aware of it. The young boys in this film would later fight in the trenches of the First World War 1914-18. Where was this film shot? Many thanks for choosing this video, Joel. More of this please, if you find it. Cheers, John in Canada

[@martinscott-reed5379]

The Victorian era was between 1837 and 1901. 1901 onwards until 1910 was the Edwardian era. Although there are opinions that the Edwardian era continued until 1919. Since then, we have been living in the Modern era. There is no one alive today that has lived through the Victorian era.

[@OneTrueScotsman]

Every era's modern to its dwellers.

[@joannedwyer-bc5py]

Brilliant. A lot of Victorian kids were chimney sweeps too. I've watched the same kinda stuff in american videos with adults and kids acting how you just described. The videos were colourised too. Very interesting.

[@mariejoyce5150]

I am lucky enough to have grown up knowing 3 of my great grandparents all of whom were born in the later quarter of the 1800s . I am our family historian and we are lucky to have many documents, photos and memorabilia from our ancestors passed down through the family. As a child I was always interested in our family and social history. When my Great Grandparents sat telling me about their lives I listened and paid attention. They told me stories of their grandparents who were born in the 1820s and 1830s so I have first hand accounts of my Great Great Great grandparents. I have many photos , the earliest being my Great Great Grandfather who was born in 1838. I have seen this video many times over the years and your correct it is like Time Travel. Similarly family history is a trip back in time, I feel I know my ancestors almost as well as my own family, it’s fascinating.

[@steven54511]

Just think about the fact that they've seen a person using new technology to film them that day - and it'll of been the highlight of their day - and I bet you a pound that they'll of spoken about it to everybody, whether they knew them or not about it. A real time capsule event. Thanks for showing it.

[@garrymonk]

These films were made by Mitchell & Kenyon, for the background story: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_and_Kenyon and the BBC documentary: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5Wyapmhlqx2gas

[@ElDubz420]

It's so weird staring back at these folk when they look at the camera, They look just as confused and intrigued as we are 😂 we're literally staring back in time and they're staring into the future 😂

[@robertjohnsontaylor3187]

My grandfather was born in 1876, which means he was 25 when Queen Victoria died, in 1911 he went steerage to Canada and worked in the wheat-fields the hard way. He came back to England marry gredma.

[@paulbromley6687]

Queen Victoria died the year this footage was filmed 1901

[@Delicious_J]

My great grandfather was born in 1888, he worked in pits majority of his life as would all of his siblings, however his brother emigrated with his wife and children to Canada to mine coalfor the Canadian National Railway in Alberta in 1920, in what is now Jasper state park, a really beautiful part of the world and a world away from the milltowns in lancashire then as now In the 1950s he returned with his wife and some children but his other kids remained in Canada and I've got some family in Canada descended from him and living in BC, Alberta and some in Ontario now in the East of the country AndI believe I've possibly got much older roots and connections in the United States particularly in the southern states

[@casp11]

brilliant reaction mate. much respect Birmingham UK. you still need to come back and see it properly lol.

[@bookie5667]

Joel, Queen Victoria died 22nd January 1901 making the period of this film Edwardian (named after her successor, King Edward VII) NOT Victorian. Also, everyone from the Edwardian era (1901 to 1910) is dead, or they were so young they have no recollection of this period - the oldest living person in the UK was born August 1909. I'm afraid the only way you could have a conversation with someone living during this period is if you had a time machine.

[@seansmith445]

Always someone who has to be pedantic 🙄

[@shammylevva]

@@seansmith445always someone who doesn’t like people who like information to be accurate. I guess it’s a modern thing on the internet that we tolerate or worse celebrate inaccuracies persisting.

[@artrandy]

Notice the 'two fingered salute' at 8.42, the equivalent of the middle finger. And the fight is staged for the camera. I've seen these marvellous films in full, (and there are hours of them), so many times, and my heart bleeds everytime for the way my working class antecedents endured penury and filth, in the industrial North of England, especially those skinny children staring into camera, being facinated by the new technology of film..........

[@charleshedley4381]

This is one of the Mitchell and Kenyon 'factory gate' films. They would film people leaving their factories and advertise that people could watch themselves when the film was shown in a local hall. At least part of it was filmed outside Parkgate Ironworks in Rotherham. "The Parkgate Ironworks was founded in 1823, and renamed Parkgate Iron and Steel Co. in 1888. By 1901 it employed over 6,000 people, making it one of the largest employers in the Rotherham area. Its workforce included many children as half-time workers, which accounts for their numbers here. The works closed in 1982 and the site is now occupied by Parkgate Shopping centre. This film is thought to have been shown at the annual Rotherham Statis, the local Wakes fair, where the Parkgate workers would have had the opportunity of seeing themselves on screen." Check it out on line. It's sad to think that those boys belonged to the generation that would include so many killed in WW1. The local war memorial lists ~1,300 names. Rotherham's population was around 50,000 at that time, so they lost a high proportion of their 18-35 year olds.😊

[@deedee7733]

This was taken by Mitchell and Kenyon, I believe. They filmed large crowds of ordinary people at different locations, then played them at local venues such as fairs for a small fee. It's probably why the crowd is playing up to the camera. I can imagine their excitement at seeing themselves on screen!

[@brianconlan4215]

8:37 see the guy giving the Vs to the camera. :)

[@Lily-Bravo]

Sign for Victory then.

[@irreverend_]

I noticed that :)

[@philiptodd7062]

More the Edwardian era Queen Victoria passed away in January 1901 this must be a few months after Edward V was crowned in 1902,

[@danmayberry1185]

Has Joel seen the pre-Python sketch, The Four Yorkshireman? Might be on topic with this film.

[@zetectic7968]

This was a very conformist society for 2 main reasons: these were the only clothes you could buy/afford; if you were to dress different to the crowd you wouldn't get a job unless you worked in the circus or on stage. This carried on until the early 1960's. It was scandalous in the 1920's & 30's for a woman to wear trousers.

[@petedenton9434]

Yes it's interesting to think how close we are to the Victorian era. I'm in my late 50s and 2 of my grandparents were born during the reign of Queen Victoria.

[@jacquelinepearson2288]

Don't forget that they are looking at the camera because 'moving pictures' was new technology back in 1901. Ordinary photographs were taken with cameras where the subject had to keep perfectly still for several seconds. They had probably never experienced being filmed. The boys do look like small versions of men. as they started working much earlier in their life back then.

[@whitecompany18]

Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield) born 1910 Grandad (Edward Kitchener) born 1905 Both were babies a couple of years after this footage👍

[@Disco_Jay]

FYI, there is nobody alive today who lived through Victorian England. Queen Victoria died in 1901 and the oldest person on the planet today was born in Japan in 1908.

[@thepostman9664]

aaaahh, the good old days were kids earned their keep by working 10 hours per day !!!

[@estherdavidson7959]

My father born 1908 started working at age 7 after his 2 sisters went into service at age 14 and 15. He began by helping a milkman deliver cans of milk. Started work at 5.30 then went straight to school for 9am. His father was conscripted and sent to France. At 12 he was the butcher boy getting up to ready the horse for the day ahead. On school days he delivered meat to local houses on foot then on Saturday he travelled to many outlying farms to sell their wares and also exchange goods for other produce such as eggs and grain. Then at the end of the day he fed and groomed the horse before his work day ended. Hard hard toil. His family were very, very poor like many of their neighbours actually living hand to mouth. His father was a farm servant and on return to the home in 1918 was left jobless. Work hard to come by. My dad left formal education at age 13. He had to work to help provide for the family. He was bright and a hard worker and began to make progress in his life when the country was thrown into the Great Depression and unemployment rife. His mother was very ill and doctors very expensive so again he had to work long hard hours to help the family. He lived in a small market town and decided to stay rather than move to one of the large cities. Life was no bed of roses. After he officially retired he worked part time till he was 82 in the local university library department, where he learned to catalogue books and enter them into the computer database. Lived to work but mainly worked to live.

[@seanosborne3343]

I had seen this film before, but it was nice to see it again. The sound track isn't original, because the cine cameras of the day couldn't record sound. My father bought a cine camera in the early 1960's and it was the same sort of scenario then, people playacting in front of the camera. You are right about the children, a lot of them would have already been working for a living -- a sort of legalised slave trade. Poor people then had it really tough. The women who were wearing shawls were doing that because they couldn't afford to buy coats. As a child in the 1960's in Belfast, Ireland, I can remember helping my mother do shopping in the city centre, and seeing some old women wearing shawls in the street -- they were called "shawlies", because they couldn't afford to buy a coat. I was told not to stare, because it wasn't their fault they were poor. Your video was recorded in 1901, and Queen Victoria died in that year. Of course there was no colour photography back then, so a lot of work was involved in "colourising" a film. Somewhere on the net there is a very short b/w film of Queen Victoria in Ireland, I'll see if I can locate it for you. Keep up the sterling work!!!

[@StephenWhittaker-g5g]

in 1901 he minimum working age was 12 around this time free compulsory education finished at 12. so some of these children most probably are working probably 14 hour days for some. if you get a chance to come through manchester again I recommend Quarry Bank Mill and Style village (there are videos too) which is a restored living museum "Cotton Mill",. Clothes wise this predates synthetic fibres so wool and cotton and similar unless wealthy colours reflecting the working clothes, it would be common to have a nice set "sunday best" for church etc. the smudges on the faces likely to be coal or similar. One of the reasons for horror and ghost stories from this era is the ammount of children killed in work accidents, also this was the era of the "penny dreadful " stories.

[@windsorSJ]

My Great Grandfather used to work for the gas board which controlled the countries gas. The gas was coal gas, a real dirty gas, every town had gasometers to store the gas. Every so often there would be an accumulation of black oily sediment in the base of the gasometers. It was my Great Grandfather's job to remove this sediment with a shovel from inside. The story my Dad told me is that on Fridays when all the blokes went to the pub after work he was banned from all the pubs because he smelled so bad. I don't know what killed him eventually but I would put money on doing that job had something to do with it.

[@renestam7385]

Look at the lithium mines today. And what has changed?

[@sirjonty18]

Crazy isn't it" you'd have passed within 15 miles of this location this year on your way north to york. This is rotherham.

[@paulguise698]

I thought it was Halifax

[@koprnob1952]

Not a lot of Obesity in those days. I couldn't see anyone who looked overweight. 👍

[@roseoconnor5938]

Poor souls were lucky to have one meal a day.....The fathers would get a reasonable meal, the children a little less and the mothers were lucky to lick the plates....😢

[@carolarmer1204]

These films were taken when filming was in its infancy , so what the camera man would do was set up outside factory's and such filming the workers coming out and then because of the sheer novelty of it the people would get the chance to see themselves on the state of the art cinema screen for a shilling later that night , the fights were staged to jazz up the films a bit , I believe it is the actual camera owner who is taking part in the fight . This would be mind blowing technology to the people being filmed .

[@identitywithheld1027]

The doors were 6'6". If you to the 9 minute mark, you see that most people weren't very tall.

[@jojojo8835]

5:00 poor guy on the right- most extreme case of rickets I’ve ever seen😢

[@danmayberry1185]

Grandparents there, 6 and 8 at the time. Workhouses existed a good 30 years after this.

[@kategray9]

My dad was born in 1892. Left school at 12. Became a successful business man after serving in WW1.

[@ginettechiverton7113]

These films are so important in the social historical way . 🇬🇧

[@OneTrueScotsman]

It's kind of like getting a glimpse into another world, in a way. Yes, it's just 125 years ago, but the world's changed so much since then in almost every way. Our living experiences would be vastly different. The things we take for granted, and rely on every day, like the freezer, the washer, indoor plumbing and electricity, cars, the internet, supermarkets, central heating, etc, as well as modern medicine, and the knowledge we've accrued over the last 130 years that every small child knows, was out of limits for even the brightest minds back then.

[@jackielouise3725]

Notice how the children were dressed the same as the adults; especially the boys. They were just miniature versions of their patents and, of course, they started working at a young age back then.

[@alansmithee8831]

Joel, as an honorary Yorkshireman you may want to check on another one, the French film pioneer who took the first film pictures in Leeds.

[@philipstroud6327]

One thing to bear in mind, many of these people both young and old had not seen any kind of filming camera

[@jackthelad8182]

I can remember my grandad born in early 1900's,hole's in his shoes pawn shop's ,tin baths

[@shammylevva]

A couple of things you may not realise watching this. The film is in black and white and has been processed very recently to be colourised. Colour film didn’t arrive in U.K. until decades later, for cinema movies, there were some early experiments in movies some years later but they required indoor controlled conditions not this sort of street scene. This is false colour but it does help make it look more real. Secondly the background sound is added for the video. All cameras of the era were movies only no sound. It wasn’t until the 20s that the first talking pictures with sound came along. So again a good job has been done recently to make the film feel more natural to our modern eyes and ears. These films were extremely popular in the late Victorian early Edwardian times around the turn of the century. Camera crews would visit factories, docks, mills and places where a lot of people worked then film them as they left. This is why so many of them are dirty faces. That was the nature of the work they did. Once the camera men had done the filming they would set up shop in local halls & music halls and similar venues including early cinemas. People would then pay an entry fee to see themselves and their neighbours on film. It was an extremely popular form of entertainment.

[@Lily-Bravo]

Interesting to see an African face in the crowds, happy and laughing.

[@careytitan9097]

In 1901 the population of England and Wales was 59.6 million, of which around 15,000 were immigrants of foreign origin, from all across Europe and the world.

[@zetectic7968]

@@careytitan9097 I don't know where you got those wildly inaccurate figures from? Hansard 1908 "At the Census of 1901 the total population of England and Wales at all ages was 32,527,813". Genealogy sites say under 37 million. 475,000 foreign-born individuals living in England and Wales in 1901. Of which all but 50,000 were born in Ireland.

[@careytitan9097]

@@zetectic7968 Posted the post WWII, instead of pre WWI, oops! The census of 1901 states The total population of the United Kingdom, England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland was 41,458,721 of which 1.4% were foreign born. In the late 1800s, Britain allowed approximately 40,000 Jews from Austria and Germany to settle in the country, along with 50,000 Jews from Italy, Poland, and Eastern Europe. The protestant Huguenots fleeing persecution in France in the late 18th century. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom in 1901. Post WWII in 1950, it was estimated there were no more than 20,000 non-White residents in the United Kingdom, mainly in England; almost all born overseas.

[@bwilson5401]

Look at his arms.Theyre white.He's a miner.

[@Lily-Bravo]

@@bwilson5401 Look at his shirt, it is white, he is not a miner. His whole face is different from the other peoples. Incidentally people of other races were accepted more easily in Victorian days (the Empire) than supposed. Samuel Coleridge Taylor was a very popular composer in those days then largely forgotten about later.

[@john_smith1471]

The youngsters are there because you started work at 14, they are smaller and scrawny because of diet, living conditions and poverty, but nobody was overweight or pre diabetic like today.

[@duncanalmond7880]

Hi JPS .... this was almost certainly shot in the North of England ... probably Lancashire in one of the cotton mill towns or cities. The middle part of the video was particularly telling. The mass of men and also shawl-wrapped women look like they were leaving their work at one of the large cotton spinning or weaving mills that dominated the industrial landscape throughout much of Lancashire and Yorkshire ... Manchester, after all, at the height of the industrial revolution was called 'Cottonopolis', so vast was its wealth from the cotton industries. And, one of the biggest clues? .... their feet .... the majority of women, men, and some of the boys in that middle section were all wearing wooden clogs (made using wooden soles with attached metal hobnails (for durability) and leather uppers) ... synonymous with mill workers.

[@nostalgiccollectables554]

This footage came from a large collection of old film found in a disused shop in northern England. Made by local film makers Mitchell & Kenyon in the late Victorian period. Well worth looking into as there are lots of it. Plus no creepy Ai voices. Hope this helps.

[@thehonestcritic6577]

Remember that Denim wasn't a thing back then and notice that some children were wearing Clogs on their feet . I was waiting for the Drone shot lol

[@claregale9011]

Looking right at us . Love the old footage .

[@refi7976]

It's stange looking at people from 120 odd years ago. How many were killed in WWI? I wonder whether someone will go through the film of us and think how odd we look.

[@raygoodspeed2382]

2.23 Fascinating that one Labourer is a black guy, way back in 1901, and he seems to be just accepted as part of the group. This was long before most black people came to the UK in the 40s, 50s, and 60s

[@bwilson5401]

He's a miner.Thats coal dust.😂

[@raygoodspeed2382]

@bwilson5401 no. He is clearly a black bloke. It is not coal dust.

[@saladspinner3200]

I love how someone has turned GlaDOS into an actual AI voice. The Irony 😅

[@leonfairhurst7597]

As others have said many of those young men, and boys that age had the responsibilities of men, and many of them died for King and Empire during WW1 which started in 1914 not 1918.

[@Jan-xn3kz]

There were no washing facilities at work, that why they leave covered in dirt. My Grandfather was a coal miner in the 20s/30s and walked home covered in coal dust, he had a tin bath in front of the fire with water my Grandma heated on the stove. This is why Unions are so important to improve peoples rights, it makes me sad that we are not really taught the history of working people.

[@TheDizzydiana]

Those kids reminded me of the film Oliver. You might like to look up The Matchstick girls.

[@OneTrueScotsman]

It's bizarre to think that even the children in this video have been dead for decades. Even their own grandchildren, probably. The eyes on these people had never seen an aeroplane, a television, a movie, or even the sea for most of them. They'd never seen an image of the earth from space. Had a telephone, electricity, or indoor plumbing. The current king's grandparents hadn't been born. There was no NHS, no BBC, and the two greatest wars of our history were still to come. The idea that millions of people would be watching footage of them, from around the globe, in another century, and another millennium, would have been unthinkable.

[@user-man-now80]

The poverty looks widespread without any inkling of the vast wealth of the country. I'm 80 and this video could be slotted into the 1950's. Any wealth was with the top 10% of population. Great pictures. Cheers ! Sheffield South.

[@Jill-mh2wn]

Any idea where this was filmed? My guess is one of the mill towns , not London .Say Yorkshire or Lancashire. These are factory workers ,if it was London there would be much more general horse drawn traffic .

[@seansmith445]

It was a mill town near Manchester.

[@paulbromley6687]

What is interesting is how all the women and girls are wearing a shawl over their heads, which is very like you see now here in the UK in Moslem areas where women cover their heads when outdoors some cover their faces too as a firm of modesty possibly the same as back in 1901 with the women filmed.

[@davidcronan4072]

In those times no woman would go outside unless she was wearing a hat or other head covering.

[@egriffiths8993]

Also coats were expensive so a shawl that fit whatever size you were doubled up as a coat and a hat.

[@claregale9011]

Bloomin cold that's why .

[@brigidsingleton1596]

My 'family history' only comes down to me through my Mum's side, (as I know nothing at all about my biological father's side). My Grandad (my Mum's Dad) was born in late July 1894, and hewent through WWI (& later as a non-combatant, due to his age, in WWII) and he suffered several horrendous injuries from 'World War One' but he lived through til mid January 1988. My Nan (my Mum's Mum), was born in late January 1900, she was (amongst other things) a Cook to a German family - who then had to move away from London due to anti-German feelings (naturally enough) when WWI started. Nan had a 'bad heart' (heart conditions run in our family, from her lineage) and she lived only through to 1960 (when I was _7_yrs old, so I barely knew her and have only a few memories of her). My Mum was born the year before the end of WWI, (late March, in a snow storm in Scotland, in 1917) but she was a soldier in the ATS during WWII, plys before that, a Cook - like her Mother - then later she became a Nurse* (that* was _before_ the NHS began in 1948). I was birn in early August 1953, and my half-sister, was born in mid-December 1944...(My half-sister also had heart problems, plus others, including throat cancer when she was only 22_yo, and she lived until just _11_days_ _before_ she would've been celebrating her _75_th birthday, in 2019. I am now _72_yo, have confestive heart failure and CKD (chronic kidney disease, disbetes, pulmonary iedema and arthritis...yet am hoping to live longer than 75...(There was always a sort of 'friendly rivalry' between my half-sister and me, and that includes me wanting to live longer than she did, despite what the Consultants at Three London Hospitals describe as my 😏"Multiple Co-morbidities 🌝🤔🥺!! You _may_ 🤔 wish me luck🤞 in my 'apparently simple' yet, so far, luck-strewn - to date - ambition?! 🤞 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿💕🇬🇧🖖

[@Michael_from_EU_Germany]

I am so touched that I have tears in my eyes. And I wish you luck, luck and again luck.

[@anglosaxon5874]

It's all new to them and to think they would never see the end result as there was no television and cinemas only just started to open [1900/1901 in the UK]. So some do look confused, a bit like the older generation now with the new tech. It's a continuous cycle. lol

[@Tuffydipstick]

13 years later we were at war. All those children have passed away now.

[@Cnith]

Nice little AI voice doing GlaDOS from the Portal games. Always interesting to watch these old clips even if the people in them don't do particularly interesting things.

[@MsGilly60]

They’re staring like that because the camera is a new thing especially one that takes moving pictures

[@mycolliesandme268]

These were the working class people the people that built Britain, the workers and also they were the less wealthy. Salt of the earth people. Our ancestors.

[@DanielFerguson-j9u]

Scenes in many American places would be just like this, I cities like New York etc. Most of these are people leaving work, or lining up to enter a work place, factory or such.

[@Neil_TheShiningMile]

It makes me feel incredibly old to say that my grandad was born in the 19th Century! He was born in 1899 and so would have been 2 when this was taken. Crazy to think! He died in 1984. He was 47 when my mum was born (1946) and I was born in 1975.

[@knockshinnoch1950]

The vast majority of the boys featured in this video would've been fighting age during the First World War- I find it sad and rather chilling at their complete unawareness of what lies ahead. My ex wife's grandmother was born in 1899 and died in 2001. She was an incredible woman who had some amazing memories of important historical events and her first hand experience which was priceless to hear. The sinking of the Titanic, going to see The Jazz Singer the first talking movie starring Al Jolson- Hollywood hype is nothing new- they were all let down because only the 2nd reel of the movie had sound and they could understand what these Americans were saying!

[@dataterminal]

The voice you hear, is akin to GLaDOS from the 2007 game, 'portal' - highly recommend you play it. It'd do well for a (approx. 3 hour) blind reaction series - based on other youtubes playing it for the first time. It's not a huge game but one that seems to pass the younger generation by. Sometimes I forget just how young you are, or rather older I am now, haha.

[@johnloony68]

One thing which is almost uniform and ubiquitous in films of crowds outside in those days was hats. Almost everybody, in most parts of the world, wore hats almost all the time.

[@sequri]

Joel, get your head around this: barely more than a century ago and NO smartphone or even phone, radio, TV, computer, electricity, possibly no gas, washing machine, microwave, fridge/freezer, car etc. Heating from open coal fire/range, candle or gas mantle lighting, entertainment from books/newspapers, tin bath and coal tar soap, outside toilet (likely non-flush, no toilet paper - newspaper or hand!). They were possibly happier than we are today though, in many respects…

[@scottwebb1978]

This was filmed in 1901 and its 2024 now this recording is still here not lost or deleted or broken... its been cleaned up restored.. but still here to view today..question is..who filmed it.. why was it filmed..everyone wanted to be in the recording because being recorded in film was new technology back then Also everyone in that video are all dead by now Don't forget by 1914 its world war 1 so people be going to war

[@neilpickup237]

I noticed several things in the video. Did you realise that almost everyone had something on their heads? Men with caps and women (and girls) a shawl. Did you also notice a lack of women? Being retired myself, I am (just) old enough to have childhood memories of a few of the contemparies of those in the film, and remember how they would never go out without something on their heads. I also remember how quite a few of the older men would refer to their wives as 'her indoors'. Judging by this film, I am guessing that there were many 'indoors'!

[@Lily-Bravo]

The children would have grown up faster as many of these would have to be working, education not being compulsory. I grew up readling "The Water Babies" which from what I remember featured the little boys that had to climb inside chimneys to clean them, and often died young from a particular nasty cancer. Other children worked in factories doing really dangerous things.

[@Jill-mh2wn]

Boys ,even from wealthy and aristocratic families ,would join the Royal Nany while still children .

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

The camera would have been very large, so it would have been obvious that it was there. A lot of these people would have been curious - most of them would probably never have seen a movie camera before. My granddad would have been 7 when this was made - he grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland and lived to be 98, so I got to know him quite well as I grew up. Amazes me to think that he did his army training on horseback prior to WWI.

[@thesunshinehome]

*it's probably the first time some of them have seen a camera*

[@luciusvorenus01]

No one is still alive from The Victorian/Edwardian era, Joel.

[@primusstovis3704]

At that time only about half of the male population (over the age of 21) had the vote, that was about 20% of the total population. Very few women had the vote (you had to own property over certain values and pay rates ). That did not change until 1918 with the Representation of the People Act. The average lifespan was around 45 years for men and 49 years for women. More than one in six babies died in their first year of life. If anyone talks about "white privilage" think of the people that you see in this film. This was the average British man, woman and child of the empire at that time. Go back further in time to before industrialisation and life was even harder for the working class.